He has spent more than four decades as a podiatrist in the city when during much of that time, most white professional folks couldn’t hit 8 Mile Road heading north quickly enough.

Kirschenbaum’s first office was on Mack Avenue and its locale was never on anyone’s home and garden tour.

His second office was situated on Grand River east of Livernois and, once again, the neighborhood was not the focus of any proud chamber of commerce pamphlet.

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Sure Kirschenbaum lives in the suburbs. He doesn’t just practice in the city, though.

He has patients. He has relationships.

Kirschenbaum probably has a few more relationships after being the guest speaker at the Detroit Drunken Historical Society’s monthly gathering. On Thursday, the group met at Thomas Magee’s Sporting House Whiskey Bar in the Eastern Market.

Don’t be fooled by the society’s name. Inebriation wasn’t evident at the meeting but paying attention certainly was. Everyone listened intently as Kirschenbaum talked about the rich history of boxing in Detroit.

Joe Louis spent most of his early years in Detroit. Sugar Ray Robinson was born here. Jake LaMotta beat Marcel Cerdan at Briggs Stadium to win the middleweight championship of the world at Briggs Stadium in 1949.

Thomas Hearns is obviously from Detroit. He fought out of the famous Kronk Gym as did other world champs like Hilmer Kenty, Milton McCrory and his younger brother, Stevie; as well as Jimmy Paul and Duane Thomas.

Emanuel Steward was their trainer. Eddie Futch, another famous trainer from Detroit, handled boxers like Joe Frazier and Larry Holmes.

Kirschenbaum was the State of Michigan Boxing Commissioner from 1981 to 1992. He was a Gold Gloves boxer in New York City in the ‘60s. He has judged over a dozen world championship fights. He’s the recipient of the 1993 Sports Illustrated Joe Louis Award and the 2010 Joe Louis Brown Bomber Jacket Award. He is the founder and president of the Michigan Boxing Hall of Fame and served as the president of the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation, vice president and as a board member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, African American Sports Hall of Fame, Athletes with Disabilities Hall of Fame, and the Emanuel Steward Foundation. In 2009, Kirschenbaum was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

In April of 2013, Kirschenbaum’s office on Grand River went up in flames. The entire medical building was torched by a scorned lover who lit the match after shooting and killing his former girlfriend.

The charred remains contained not only Kirschenbaum’s professional life, but his personal passion as well. He was an avid collector of Joe Louis memorabilia. His world-class collection included a glove worn by Louis in the Brown Bomber’s historic victory over Max Schmeling in Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938. The first-round TKO over the fighter from Nazi Germany avenged a loss by Louis in their first fight. A black American pummeling maybe the most famous representative of Adolph Hitler’s Aryan race had enormous political and historical implications.

That entire collection was kept in his office.

“It was a total loss. I found what little was left of the glove in the ashes,” said Kirschenbaum.

“If I was ever going to leave the city, that would’ve done it,” said Kirschenbaum. “The fire was just devastating.”

He has an office in the upscale New Center area of the city now. It is directly across from the Fisher Building.

Kirschenbaum has not left boxing, either. He currently serves as Boxing Commissioner Emeritus, Special Adviser to Governor on Boxing Affairs.

While he still loves the sport, he bemoans the fate of many of its practitioners. We went to see Muhammad Ali a handful of years ago at the champ’s residence in Berrien Springs. While Ali still seemed mentally sharp, his words long-since ceased floating like butterflies and stinging like bees.

Kirschenbaum got in the ring with Ali. They threw some phantom punches and mugged for the camera. It was a magical moment, yet it was one tinged in sadness at the champ’s decline.

It is a decline shared by many, many former boxers.

I have known Kirschenbaum for years. We’ve sat ringside at many of the same bouts. We have watched fighters train. We have seen numerous local fight cards. We have seen world championship fights.

He is a friend. We have spent hours together talking about boxing and more. I have been to the weddings of his son and daughter. He came to my brother’s funeral. He was the first person to visit me in the hospital after cancer surgery awhile back.

He is a very compassionate man. Kirschenbaum became the caretaker of Joe Louis’ widow, Martha Louis, who had been virtually abandoned and left in a nursing home in suburban Detroit. Her own family did not even know where she was. Kirschenbaum had to search the Yellow Pages just to locate her.

While Martha Louis died in August of 1991 at the age of 78, Stuart Kirschenbaum made sure she was never alone again. He didn’t leave her, just like he has never left the city.

That’s something that ought to be said about my friend, Stuart Kirschenbaum.